EUGENE–A community dialogue on the complex and sometimes divisive issues that arise when different cultures converge is the topic of a March 9-10 conference at the University of Oregon.

The "Politics of Identity: Learning to Listen" conference will open at 3 p.m. Friday, March 9, at the Knight Law Center, 1515 Agate St. The conference will continue all day Saturday, March 10. Registration is at the door.

The UO Center on Diversity and Community (CODAC) is sponsoring the free public event with support from the Office of the President. UO President Dave Frohnmayer established the CODAC last fall in response to faculty and student concerns about issues related to diversity.

"We live in an increasingly diverse society and we need to come to terms with that. The goal of this conference is to start a dialogue about how to do it," says Mia Tuan, an assistant professor of sociology and CODAC steering committee chair.

Keynote speaker Rob Proudfoot, director of the UO Center for Indigenous Cultural Survival, will speak on "Shattering the Colonial Mind: Reclaiming and Remembering Sacred Landscape of Self, Spirit and Community" at 7 p.m. Friday. Proudfoot, a professor of international and ethnic studies, also is director of the Vietnam-UO Sister University Project.

The second keynote speaker Lani Roberts, a social philosopher and master teacher in the College of Liberal Arts at Oregon State University, will speak at 6 p.m. Saturday on the topic "Social Construction of Race: All the Little Children of the World."

The conference will include panels on disability, diversity, education, environmental racism, justice and leadership.

For more information, call Lorraine Brundage, conference organizer, (541) 346-5554; e-mail <lavellee@darkwing.uoregon.edu>.

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